As promised in my previous post, here amongst other things is the early plastic (probably early twentieth century) cameo brooch I bought at the antiques/collectibles shop at Haddo.

It is dark brown, detailed and gorgeous! Didn’t hurt that it only cost a few pounds too

In other pictorial news, a few months ago I tracked down a children’s story book by Lavinia Smiley, also signed by her. For those of you who don’t know, it was Mrs Smiley and her husband that donated the castle to the nation.

Another nice bonus was a little book about Sir Thomas Lawrence the artist (bit of scandal in there too, yay!) and a little oracle book, which looks like it was printed in the 1930s. For those of you that also didn’t know – I collect oracles.

Please see the pics below, I have left some as thumbnails, and some give a closer view. I have an update regarding the Mum’s knitting and creative projects, but as there is quite a lot to catch up on, it will follow in another post.

Yes, it’s that time of the year again where I give you the details of our Christmas events at the castle.

This year we will be having our traditional carols week, plus a family fun weekend. Please see poster with all events.

Are ye coming?! I’ll be there…

Talking of Christmas, I will also be going to the Haddo House Christmas Fair on the 7-8 November, and to those of you that haven’t been recently, there is a new antiques/collectables shop that has opened in the old stable block, to the right of the cafe as you walk up the path from the car park. At the moment the owner is only there weekends in the afternoon, but he hopes to stay open until at least November. I got a gorgeous early plastic cameo brooch there, but that’s a story for another day

Gnasher from the Beano has been lurking in our corridors (in fact, still is).

We’ve had lots of cool Ranger walks around the grounds this year, and the Mum was actually comissioned to make woolly bats for the children’s bat walk!

Great garden open day, plus great sales for plants, bulbs and veg too.

The second hand books and teddy bear orphans have been flying out the door to new homes (thanks everyone!) and the final bears for this year can now also be clothed in hats and scarves until we close for the Winter.

We’re now in the midst of doing bat crafts for children in the castle too for half term, as well as the annual bat quiz.

We’ve also been able to display more items to visitors this year – check out some of them in the Library.

This is all I can remember for now, I’m sure someone will remind me if I’ve forgotten anything! We’ve had an amazingly busy year (thank you) and though we will close for the Winter on the 1st November, we will be back in December with some Christmas events. More on that soon…

Here’s the part where I finally get to update on lots of things that I’ve been either doing or attempting to do this year.

With reference to castle visits. I managed to visit Delgatie Castle again, and it was sunny too. I think it could end up being a favourite of mine. Apart from the usual suspects, I haven’t managed any other ones this year sadly.

The lovely people at Country Life Magazine sent me a copy of Adams Houses, I bought myself Jane Austen: the World of Her Novels by Deidre Le Faye and I’ve managed to borrow Sir Thomas Lawrence (which I love) and Treasures From the Trust.

I should also update the historic film and TV list. I’m ashamed to say I originally missed off accidentally: Excalibur, Daniel Deronda, Dangerous Liasons, Howard’s End. There are lots more I love that I will add eventually.

Talking of TV, after the glut of interesting stuff, there hasn’t been much on that I’ve liked lately. Series 3 of The Tudors was pretty boring stuff, and I even missed the end. Caught up with the predecessor of Victorian Farm – Tales From the Green Valley – which I didn’t like nearly as much, haven’t seen the new Wuthering Heights (not bothered either, I HATE the story and characters) and am currently watching the new version of Emma, which I’m not liking much either, sigh.

I hope to get out to the cinema over the Winter to see at least a couple of new films, and to get some fresh books to read as I’m getting a bit low on material. Maybe someone will take pity on me for my birthday…

Haven’t managed any exhibitions either, though I do lust over paintings at every available opportunity. I can dream about making an exhibition some time soon.

Last, but not least, I’ve done a little tinkering with this site, and gathered a lot of Eleanor material together. I’m much more happy with the site now than I ever was, so I will put a proper front page up. Not in any rush though (why rush now!) it will come when time and creativity permits.